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baronessekat's review
3.0
Personal note: Author is a friend of mine.
I can see how others would like this book. I was just a bit lost at times, but I think that is because I found that I honestly was not engaged with the reader throughout most of the book. His voice tended to lull me into zoning out and I had to fight to pay attention due to his reading style.
The story itself was interesting, when I could focus on it, and a good intro into a new fantasy world, though it took until almost half way into it to get any real world building.
I can see how others would like this book. I was just a bit lost at times, but I think that is because I found that I honestly was not engaged with the reader throughout most of the book. His voice tended to lull me into zoning out and I had to fight to pay attention due to his reading style.
The story itself was interesting, when I could focus on it, and a good intro into a new fantasy world, though it took until almost half way into it to get any real world building.
shell_s's review
3.0
This is a distinctly urban adventure with noir elements set in a fantasy world, with loads and layers of intrigue, written by a veteran game master of Dungeons & Dragons and other RPGs. The world of Shijuren is so detailed it's a character in itself, especially the city of Achrida and its delightfully sinister deep lake.
The cultures are thoroughly and vividly detailed and have recognizable Norse or Greek or Serbian (and other) influences. Rather than an information-dump, the author naturally weaves into the narration elements like languages and **vocabulary, delectable foods, clothing, weapons, fighting styles, religions, governments, social hierarchy, law enforcement, and criminal enterprises. In that aspect I would compare this work to the writings of Robin Hobb or Robert Jordan.
**Very rarely the foreign vocabulary (especially titles) tripped me up in confusion and took me out of the narrative, like calling a bard a "scop." But for the most part the writer offered context clues either immediately or within a few paragraphs. And anyway if you read the e-book each specialized term and title, and even the character and place names, are linked to the extensive wiki here: http://www.robhowell.org/shijuren/World+of+Shijuren+Home
I found the magic system highly original, "The Five Streams" of magic being land magic (manipulate objects and energy like light), line magic (runes and writing), life magic (power over living things), lore magic (augury and power over events; requires lots of vows of secrecy), and love magic (power over emotions). Truth be told I would have liked to see more magic at work, though there are some fascinating workings of land magic and lore magic and, particularly, love magic in a few exciting and crucial scenes.
The book's webs of Machiavellian intrigue and manipulation and general sense of political greed and corruption and gritty elements like lust (not that this author goes into steamy detail about what acts are committed and with whom), I would compare to worlds like Westeros. Like in Game of Thrones, some of the noble houses in this work (notably the Gropa and Mrnjavcevics) are based on actual historical people.
What normally hooks me into a story is the characters, but in this novel I was initially pulled along by the mystery of what was inside a magically sealed pouch, and why several characters (mostly minor) had been kidnapped or attacked or even murdered over it. To my surprise that mystery was solved long before the unmasking of the mastermind and their true motives. The item was intriguing by nature, but in the end it seemed to be pretty much a catalyst for the action, to my minor disappointment. (But it's possible that in later books its recovery will have repercussions down the line!)
And now a note on characters. I greatly appreciated that narrator Edward Aethelredson undergoes an emotional journey carrying a great burden, and he has a hard-earned epiphany by novel's end that I found very satisfying. And yet...overall I found him too stoic to latch onto. Especially when compared to funny and lovable characters involved in some much needed comic relief, like tavern-keeper Ragnar Longuetongue and his no-nonsense wife and daughter, or Piriska Mrnjavcevic the battle veteran who gets Edward back on the proverbial horse in more ways than one.
I am going to read more in this series. But my next read probably won't be in Edward's arc, but rather in a strong central female character's arc starting with I Am a Wondrous Thing.
Why I gave the novel three stars instead of more comes down to a very personal reason and I won't give spoilers or trigger warnings. Suffice to say I was gobsmacked that none of the characters, including Edward, seemed at all disturbed by and eager to shut down the Bronze Rose Club. It's an enterprise so appalling I had to put the book down for awhile. The club only seems to get mentioned in passing to make sure the reader knows that Kemal Kachar is a Very Evil Bastard (even though that was already readily apparent from the words leaving his mouth).
I have a pet peeve about that sort of shortcut to vilify a character, and when I was lucky enough to meet the author he was kind enough to listen to me ramble about trying to balance objectivity and cultural relativism with knee-jerk emotional responses and modern sensitivities. He even thanked me for the feedback and said perhaps one day he'll write a character who will make shutting down the exploitative and repulsive Bronze Rose Club a priority. What more can I ask? =)
The cultures are thoroughly and vividly detailed and have recognizable Norse or Greek or Serbian (and other) influences. Rather than an information-dump, the author naturally weaves into the narration elements like languages and **vocabulary, delectable foods, clothing, weapons, fighting styles, religions, governments, social hierarchy, law enforcement, and criminal enterprises. In that aspect I would compare this work to the writings of Robin Hobb or Robert Jordan.
**Very rarely the foreign vocabulary (especially titles) tripped me up in confusion and took me out of the narrative, like calling a bard a "scop." But for the most part the writer offered context clues either immediately or within a few paragraphs. And anyway if you read the e-book each specialized term and title, and even the character and place names, are linked to the extensive wiki here: http://www.robhowell.org/shijuren/World+of+Shijuren+Home
I found the magic system highly original, "The Five Streams" of magic being land magic (manipulate objects and energy like light), line magic (runes and writing), life magic (power over living things), lore magic (augury and power over events; requires lots of vows of secrecy), and love magic (power over emotions). Truth be told I would have liked to see more magic at work, though there are some fascinating workings of land magic and lore magic and, particularly, love magic in a few exciting and crucial scenes.
The book's webs of Machiavellian intrigue and manipulation and general sense of political greed and corruption and gritty elements like lust (not that this author goes into steamy detail about what acts are committed and with whom), I would compare to worlds like Westeros. Like in Game of Thrones, some of the noble houses in this work (notably the Gropa and Mrnjavcevics) are based on actual historical people.
What normally hooks me into a story is the characters, but in this novel I was initially pulled along by the mystery of what was inside a magically sealed pouch, and why several characters (mostly minor) had been kidnapped or attacked or even murdered over it. To my surprise that mystery was solved long before the unmasking of the mastermind and their true motives. The item was intriguing by nature, but in the end it seemed to be pretty much a catalyst for the action, to my minor disappointment. (But it's possible that in later books its recovery will have repercussions down the line!)
And now a note on characters. I greatly appreciated that narrator Edward Aethelredson undergoes an emotional journey carrying a great burden, and he has a hard-earned epiphany by novel's end that I found very satisfying. And yet...overall I found him too stoic to latch onto. Especially when compared to funny and lovable characters involved in some much needed comic relief, like tavern-keeper Ragnar Longuetongue and his no-nonsense wife and daughter, or Piriska Mrnjavcevic the battle veteran who gets Edward back on the proverbial horse in more ways than one.
I am going to read more in this series. But my next read probably won't be in Edward's arc, but rather in a strong central female character's arc starting with I Am a Wondrous Thing.
Why I gave the novel three stars instead of more comes down to a very personal reason and I won't give spoilers or trigger warnings. Suffice to say I was gobsmacked that none of the characters, including Edward, seemed at all disturbed by and eager to shut down the Bronze Rose Club. It's an enterprise so appalling I had to put the book down for awhile. The club only seems to get mentioned in passing to make sure the reader knows that Kemal Kachar is a Very Evil Bastard (even though that was already readily apparent from the words leaving his mouth).
I have a pet peeve about that sort of shortcut to vilify a character, and when I was lucky enough to meet the author he was kind enough to listen to me ramble about trying to balance objectivity and cultural relativism with knee-jerk emotional responses and modern sensitivities. He even thanked me for the feedback and said perhaps one day he'll write a character who will make shutting down the exploitative and repulsive Bronze Rose Club a priority. What more can I ask? =)
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